Yesterday was my 31st wedding anniversary. I told my wife the traditional gift was "A Brassica" and gave her this beautiful brassica bouquet fresh from the keyhole garden. Then, she ate it.

A series of nights below freezing has fried all my tropical plants, the Ice Cream (aka Blue Java) banana chief among them. One of the banana plants had fruit on it, so I cut the bunch of bananas and brought them indoors to ripen. I got about 50 little bananas from this bunch. I hope they ripen because it would be ironic if it was the cold that ruined something with ice cream in its name.

It's five weeks until spring and a mere days until our last overnight frost. Unlike many a previous year, the greenhouse seedlings are off to a great start. Today we'll be dividing and re-potting into larger containers so everybody will have strong roots when we finally transplant into the vegetable garden in a few weeks.

Last spring I planted a grape tomato variety from Johnny's Selected Seeds called Valentine. Developed in collaboration with Penn State University, the Johnny's catalog described it as having "Massive early yields, deep red color and unusually rich flavor." All true. By the time the season ended four plants produced nearly 80 pounds of delicious, firm grape tomatoes. A definite 5 out of 5 stars. Here's a short video from the garden so you can see for yourself.

I made an attractive rustic clock for only $10 using some old pallet wood, clothespins and a little creativity. The whole project start to finish took less than a weekend. Here's the instructions on how I did it so you can build your own.

About a month ago, my wife said she felt like this Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans) was looking at her so I gave it bottle-cap eyes. I went outside yesterday morning and noticed that our peeping friend had his hair color changed courtesy of the recent freeze. Very stylish.